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For the first time in New York City at Neutral Grounds ; Nintendo , Magfest , BattlePony , and Empire Arcadia, hosted a gaming summit. This summit brought together gamers from all several communities to discuss issues about the gaming community and what can videogame companies do to help gamer communities develop. A formal introduction of all the gamers that attended the summit was given, as over 40 gamers said their names and gave a brief resume of their gaming history.
After introductions, Kyle the Nintendo street team manager opened up the summit by expressing his concerns about the gaming community as why he has done several gaming events throughout the United States, such as "Pokemon Rocks", "Nintendo Cube Club", and now the "Nintendo Street Team". He went on to say that he was proud to contribute to the gaming community in this way and is looking forward to do more as he represents Nintendo's best interest for the gaming community. Troy Mercury, who is the Nintendo street team leader has also contributed to the community on many levels as his brother Kyle, and attended as one of the figure heads to speak on what can be done to help the growing community of gamers. Brendan Becker who is the president of Magfest which is in its third year running has served the gaming community of Virginia state and the United States as a whole by hosting his convention which is gaming on all platforms, all systems, and as many different games gamers could bring for 3 days straight. Magfest also includes, gaming concerts, gaming movies and cartoons, tournaments and more. Then Luna Valkyrie, owner of Battlepony, and unit leader of Valkyries of Arcadia a division of Empire Arcadia; spoke on her contributions to the female gaming community, her message board and virtual role playing community she has set up online and the community events that she covers and reports to her community online to keep gamers updated with the current events and happenings in the gaming community as a whole. Finally " TheeTriforceGameMaster " also known as Triforce for short, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Empire Arcadia Inc.; spoke about Empire Arcadia's never ending goal to further develop the gaming community, to eventually bring to past a full blown culture rather than a subculture of the gaming community. Triforce pointed out summits such as this, are key to the restructuring of the gamer community.
The first question that was asked was; "Should videogame companies invest in the development of videogame communities?" Not just in terms of virtual communities but the physical as well. This question opened up a can of worms as gamers answered with negative points about what the industry hasn't done to help. Points from parents not allowing kids to express their creativity in videogames, to videogames being a scapegoat for violent children. Most of these points have legitimacy to them but they were not the point of the question. Troy Mercury set the pace back on track by letting everyone know that it is not what society or the industry has done or said that will help the growth of the community but for what can be done and what should be said. He also went on to say that credit must be given to society, the government, and the industry because they are professionals in which have built was we see and participate in today. With that said the tone and mood of the issues was decreased some what, however hints of displacement to blame was still in the air.
In order to set a better understanding to the question, Kyle went on to use Brendan Becker of Magfest as an example of what is going on in the community, and then asked the question; "What can the videogame industry do to further the gaming community?" Rodney John, a Virtua Fighter 4 veteran and competitor who is heading to Evolution brought up a point as to, even though gaming conventions, events, and tournaments such as Magfest exist what can writing to a videogame company do? He further mentioned that so many times gamers have written to gaming companies only to hear from them years down the line or rejection letters. Triforce then interjected to explain the sensitive nature of why things such as what Rodney said happens. Triforce spoke on, being an avid Nintendo gamer himself and how he wrote many letters to Nintendo talking about what new ideas they could put in videogames or other gaming concepts that they could apply. In this, Triforce also told them that Nintendo, and other large videogame organizations are a business and they must be very careful taking in information from outside, because it can lead to the destruction of their business, which puts a very thick barrier between the industry and the community.
This barrier sliced through the first question and brought a brand new question into play, which was how can the community of gamers get their efforts across to the industry for the industry to be able to even help? Triforce quickly stepped in and gave a hint of what can happen and what should continue to happen. As he went on to mention that videogame companies like Nintendo who have street teams that interact with the community should continue efforts like this, in which he goes on to say "sending agents" into the system to find out more information. Gaming organizations such as Empire Arcadia would then be able to set up as networking institutes to help gather and process such information to give to these "Agents" to report back to the industry giants and then a networking channel can begin. Kyle backed Triforce on his views and statements but also went on to say that, the only way that it would work is if these organization and communities that would be set up as these network institutions, must be organized as if industry leaders are going to step in and help. they do not want to be misrepresented. This statement that Kyle made brought the summit back to its original question. Should videogame companies invest in the development of videogame communities?
A point was brought into light about what videogame companies must see when it comes to the gaming community and that is the "virtual athlete". Kyle put into perspective that gamers need places such as "Neutral Grounds" to gather and socialize at. Gamers should not be stuck with a false image that they are geeks locked in their cellars playing videogames for 20 hours a day with no interaction with society; eyes glued to the screen. Instead event centers should be created, such as ie; the Nintendo Cube Club and the Pokemon Center where gamers can gather and play together, socialize and compete. Triforce then tagged, in and stated that there was once a time where gamers gathered at arcades around the United States where they could meet their friends and congregate with each other and not just for the sake of gaming but for the sake of social interaction. However arcades are a dying business and for no good reason other than online gaming being the new answer. Triforce then brought his views about the online virtual community vs. the gamer's physical community. "Technology is a great tool in the forward evolution of the videogame industry and will serve well to create new found innovations and revelations to gamers around the world, but we must not make the mistake in thinking that technology and online gaming is the answer and or the future of gaming. Technology and online gaming should only be compliments to the continuing growth of the gaming industry not replacements."
Brea Taylor-Munro of the Nintendo street team was puzzled about the entire issue because it moved from topic to topic so quickly without answering Kyle's original question. Mike Etropolski a team mate of Brea, gave her a rundown as to why the large companies were needed to be involved, however she was still not satisfied with or came to a understanding as to "why" videogame companies should invest the time. Thus a break down was given by Triforce to bring a conclusive answer to the first question. Triforce mentioned how gaming communities and events like Magfest brings together large parties of gamers to an event to not only show their commitment to gaming; and show that there is obviously an large interest in gaming period. Then Triforce went on to say that if gaming companies became more involved in the community events, by either participating or simply endorsing them that it would not only help the industry develop a more significant relationship with the community of gamers but be prosperous for both entities in the long run. Kyle agreed with this answer and reiterated that in order for this to even stand a chance to work, we as the community must become organized and summits such as the one in attendance, and gaming grounds such as Neutral Ground is a step in the right direction.
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